Martin and Papadelias with four Utopians escorted me with some haste back to Alexandria. It was judged best that I not visit Thisbe anymore.

CHAPTER THE SEVENTEENTH

The Witch Again

Written August 16, 2454

Event of June 14

Herstedvester Compound

Thisbe: “Are you so official now that you have clearance to visit prisons? How times change.”

Achilles: “You used it on Mycroft Canner!”

Thisbe: “No ‘Hello’?”

Achilles: “You manage to smuggle in one capsule of your psycho perfume and you use it on Mycroft Canner?”

Thisbe: “No one else came by. And you must admit it was a glorious audition.”

Achilles: “Audition?”

Thisbe: “It took you, what, three hours to get here? And I’m sure you’re the first of many. Everyone in the world worth working for will have heard by now.”

Achilles: “You did it to get attention?”

Thisbe: “I’ve been here nearly three months, and haven’t seen a soul apart from crawling little interrogators. I hadn’t figured Guildbreaker and Papadelias for such cowards, and you can tell them from me that, if they want my services, they have a lot to make up for.”

Achilles: “Consequences, Thisbe. Actions have consequences. How could you do that to Mycroft of all people? You know he’s hallucinating half the time already. This could snap the thread!”

Thisbe: “Making me wait has consequences.”

Achilles: “Too hard for you, is it? Tasting the bitter grind of patience? You’re asking the wrong man, Thisbe, if you want pity. Come to me when you’ve waited years, when you’ve had to watch your comrades drop and die!”

Thisbe: “That isn’t funny. Come on, who sent you?”

Achilles: “Rage.”

Thisbe: “Is that a hint? Should I be guessing?”

Achilles: “No one sent me. I came on my own, to face you, to give you a chance to answer, just in case there was some justification for what you did to Mycroft.”

Thisbe: “I told you, I’ve been neglected. I had no better way to get attention.”

Achilles: “I respected you, when I heard you’d stayed and let them catch you so you could help Papadelias protect Bridger. I thought you did a brave thing, sacrificing O.S. and liberty, but you didn’t think you were sacrificing anything, did you? You thought some power would snatch you up, since you’re so valuable.”

Thisbe: “I presume you know by now what I can do.”

Achilles: “I know.”

Thisbe: “I won’t be unreasonable about sides. I realize at this point I have to give up helping O.S., but I’m willing. I’m not as stubborn as Ockham and Cardie. I recognize things need to change. O.S. can’t work anymore, not as it was. A new order is shaping up. I’m prepared to help lubricate the transition, for whoever is far-seeing enough to realize what my special arts can do to a riot, or a battlefield.”